Matic Network (MATIC) Review & Analysis – Matic Coin Review

Matic Network

Scalable and Instant Blockchain Transactions

ERC20 Token

Matic Network brings massive scale to Ethereum using an adapted version of Plasma with PoS based side chains.

Matic Network solves blockchain scaling problems by building a decentralized platform using an adapted version of Plasma framework that provides a solution for faster and extremely low-cost transactions with finality on the main chain.

The system ensures liveliness using PoS checkpoints which are pushed to the Ethereum mainchain. This enables a single Matic sidechain to theoretically achieve 2 16 transactions per block, and possibly millions of transactions on multiple chains in the future.

Scalability – Scalability is realized by using a decentralized Plasma operator mechanism with finality achieved on a main chain.
High Throughput – Can scale to millions of transactions on a sidechain tree architecture. Upto 65k transactions/second on a single Matic chain.
Security – The Matic chain(s) operators are themselves Stakers and Delegates in a Proof-of-Stake system in the Matic Network.
User Experience – Smooth UX abstraction from mainchain to Matic chain. Native mobile apps and SDK with WalletConnect support.

“Decentralized Apps are making huge progress but the current blockchain ecosystem is not prepared to scale as per the demand. The issues of slow block confirmations and high gas fees need to be solved before we target mass adoption by mainstream users. And most importantly, it needs awesome user experience. We aim to change that by simplifying the interaction between users and the decentralized world. We want to make interacting with the decentralized ecosystem so easy that anyone can do so without worrying about the complexity of the system.”

Positives

Matic Network aims to make Decentralized Apps run on Ethereum at a speed that is necessary for these applications to be used in a timely matter. Put more simply and with a quote we hope we’ll never have to use again, Matic Network is “making Ethereum great again” (eh…). On a more serious note, Matic Network from our research is developing the closest thing possible to a “Stripe for blockchain” by enabling instant transactions on a scalable network via PoS consensus. We won’t go into the tech behind Matic Network here but they’re basically developing a middleman between Dapps and Ethereum that accepts transactions instantly and verifies them behind the scenes. If this sounds an awful lot like what OmiseGo (OMG) is trying to do, you’d be right despite the fact that OmiseGo has been “trying” to do what they set out to do nearly two years ago with arguably little to no adoption at this point. Matic Network is a refreshing take on scaling Ethereum and if anyone is going to pick up the pieces here and finally make Ethereum Dapps/Transactions fast enough that they’re viable for mainstream adoption, it’ll be these guys.
First of all they aren’t exactly starting from scratch and more importantly, they’re not negating the work put in by various other projects aiming to make Ethereum more accessible. By working with projects such as 0x (ZRX) and MakerDAO (MKR), they’re not looking to fragment what is already a fairly fragmented “app store” and that gets a big thumbs up from us. In the case of 0x (ZRX), while the idea of decentralized exchanges connected via relays was and still is an awesome idea, it’s still hunkered down by Ethereums slow speed (and a current lack of volume). Enter Matic Network. While there are just a few Dapps working with Matic Network at the time of writing (May 2019), expect the number or projects looking to optimize Matic Networks solution to grow exponentially, especially if Ethereum continues to delay much needed upgrades. This organic growth combined with Matic Networks Wallet will make for a less “fragmented app store” and more of a Hub for people to use Dapps without worrying about confirmation times. Matic Networks Wallet is already available on both iOS and Android and integrates with WalletConnect which will allow for end-to-end encryption between Desktop Dapps and Mobile Wallets, completely eliminating the need to use unfriendly user experiences such as Metamask (finally). Possibilities extend further when you consider Matic Network will eventually implement Asset Interoperability, allowing various blockchains to connect and transact, which is essential in the long run.
Over in our “concerns” section you’ll see that we mention Matic Network being by no means the first to attempt this solution, and that’s true. The difference here is the “out of the gate” backing they’ve received and the networking they’ve done prior to their IEO/ICO. With Pete Kim (Head of Engineering, Wallet at Coinbase) as one of the Advisors to the Team and Coinbase Ventures backing Matic Network, it’s very possible we could see Coinbase utilize Matic Network in the future, especially seeing as out of all projects on the Coinbase Ventures webpage, Matic Network is one of the only projects working on Ethereum scalability. Other Advisors include talent from Decentraland and BitPay. Further complimenting Matic Networks strength in networking and their efforts to leave the competition in the dust, several Dapps are already running on Matic Network including Pocket Full of Quarters (Gaming), Plentix (Referral Economy), BitWords (Advertising) and BankIt (Fintech). It’s very clear that Matic Network has put a ton of emphasis on making their platform very developer-friendly with tools like Dagger and integrations with Zapier out of the box. We often review new projects that have just raised “X” amount of millions and provide their investors with a Roadmap that spans several years without much of any initial progress being made and Matic Network falls far from being in that category. It’s not only a compliment to themselves but also to Binance for providing the means of fundraising to a project looking to benefit the Dapp ecosystem as a whole.
The Team behind Matic Network is extremely suited to their vision. With engineers having plenty of prior experience building and deploying not only blockchain solutions but large scale fintech apps too. There’s not one person here that sticks out here as being “all talk”. Jaynti Kanani (Co-Founder & CEO) was a contributor to Web3, Plasma, WalletConnect and was previously a data scientist at Housing.com. Bhavir Shah (Head of Engineering) was previously the Software Lead at PaySense and Senior SDE at Housing.com. Arpit Agarwal (Blockchain Engineer) was a Software Engineer at Google and Semantics3 as well as the winner at ETH-India and ETH-SF hackathons. It’s safe to say Matic Network is in safe hands on the development front. When it comes to these tech-heavy solutions you definitely need less “suits and ties” and just more talent, something Matic Network has so far shown they’ve got.
Matic Network is by far one of the best projects to come out of the Binance Launchpad. For long term investors it offers an incredible ground-floor opportunity to get in on a project that will provide not only a method of improving the usability of Decentralized Applications in a big way, they’ll even be rewarded with MATIC when they contribute to the network via staking or acting as a Block Producer. Being one of the lower market-cap projects with extremely strong fundamentals, it’s the perfect mix between educated risk and potentially huge reward. Matic is tackling what countless other projects have and are attempting but in a more user-focused and developer-friendly way. If Ethereum continues to show its age then solutions such as Matic are absolutely mandatory if we’re to see any mainstream adoption of decentralized applications. Check out Matic Networks Roadmap for a look at what to expect from this Team over the next 12 months.

Concerns

While we absolutely give praise to Matic Networks fresh and developer-friendly approach to supercharging Dapps running on Ethereum right now and in the future, it’s a solution that isn’t “revolutionary” to the industry and by that we mean that the business model and product vision make it fairly easy for a competitor to try and replicate. In saying this, Matic Network can easily fend off any competitors by simply doing what they plan to do the best and convincing current Developers that they are and will continue to be the best solution. Matic offers a solution that once adopted on a large scale, doesn’t necessarily invite any competition to test their might. If Matic can succeed in areas where other projects have failed, they might just lock it down and be the premier choice for Dapps looking to work at scale.
Two of the use-cases found on Matics website refer to potential uses in Gaming and Decentralized Exchanges. We’ll touch on those quickly as there is some fierce competition in these industries both present and upcoming. Enjin (ENJ) is absolutely powering forward with not only enabling in-game transactions on the blockchain (one of the first to adopt the ERC721 “collectible” token type) but also creating one of the most feature-rich wallets in the game right now. While Matic Networks wallet is super clean and integrates directly with Dapps running on the platform as well a plethora of functionality for developers, you cannot deny that Enjin has some cred here and provides some fair competition. Secondly we’ll touch on the Decentralized Exchange use-case which is a bit more simple. Although exchanges built on Matic will enable super fast transaction speeds compared to the likes of IDEX or ForkDelta, Decentralized Exchanges will not be viable until we see a decent amount of volume on the books. We’ve seen projects like 0x (ZRX) look to increase adoption by connecting several exchanges to the one ecosystem but the volume just isn’t there yet. We’re not saying we’ve got the answer but with Nash Social (NEX) throwing their hat in the ring with their fully regulated exchange running on NEO coming in Q2/Q3 2019, the competition is only getting more fierce. It’s worth noting here that this concern isn’t something Matic Network can directly influence and it’s by no means a deciding factor for Matic Networks success. We’re pretty neutral on any Decentralized Exchanges until we see one provide a viable alternative to a Centralized Exchange in terms of volume, that’s all.
No other concerns here and as a matter of fact, you could consider the above concerns to be pretty minor and even “reaching” in a way. While we’ll be completely open here and say we’re extremely bullish on Matic Network, we’ll be keeping an eye on how Ethereum develops their scaling solutions. Matic Network does build the majority of its value on making Ethereum scalable so if Ethereum finally get’s their act together and provides their own solutions via PoS/Sharding, this could threaten not only Matic Networks fundamentals but a ton of other projects acting as Ethereums helping hands. Just keep up with the news regarding Ethereum updates and how projects like Matic Network will value-add when the time comes.